Haninozuka Princess
by MelissaRM
Summary: Haruhi's mother had a secret that, when revealed, marks Haruhi as the Haninozuka Princess. How does the independent tomboy handle the new fighter family and how to they handle her? When disaster strikes and past trauma comes back, will they be able to get through the emotional landmine?
1. Chapter 1

**Haruhi's mother had a secret that, when revealed, marks Haruhi as the Haninozuka Princess. How does the independent tomboy handle the new fighter family and how to they handle her? When disaster strikes and past trauma comes back, will they be able to get through the emotional landmine?**

 **Welcome to my first Ouran High School Fanfiction! Enjoy!**

 **Anger into rage**

Honey was in an extremely bad mood and, when the twins tried to apparently cheer him up with that stupid 'which is which' game, he snapped. In the middle of his rant about how the two of them were identical so the game was useless, Honey suddenly found himself on the ground with the air knocked out of him. He was on his back, Haruhi crouching just a little out of striking-distance.

"If you're going to rant like a spoiled brat, you could at least tell us why you're so cranky." She stated bluntly, her tone changing to an emotionless-yet-hard one that just screamed 'I'll rip you to shreds'.

"It's my business!" Honey snapped at her, though not with as much venom as he'd use on any of the others. "Sense when is my business automatically everyone's newest gossip, huh?"

"Sense you're annoying the hell outa me and even Mori-sempai doesn't seem to have the balls to make you shut the hell up. If you insist on making sure the entire damn city knows you're pissed off, the least you could do is have a good reason behind it."

"Who the hell said I didn't have a good reason?!" Honey snapped, back on his feet and looking around. "WHO?"

"I did because you haven't given one!" Haruhi shouted at him.

Honey went to attack her, only to stop with his leg in the air, barely a centimeter away from slamming into her stomach. It was Haruhi he was about to hit, the kick likely powered with all of the day's pent-up frustration on top of his usual strength. The hit would have hurt her, likely put her in the hospital and maybe even warranted a trip to the Emergency Room on a helicopter.

Haruhi looked him in the eye, her stance unwavering and his frozen in horror. "Learn to control your temper, sempai. Just because you're strong doesn't mean you have to grow up to be a monster that hurts anyone that dares look at you wrong. Do you want to end up like your grandfather, surrounded only by people who bend over and kiss ass, not people who actually want to be around you?"

Kyoya grabbed onto Mori, Mori nearly turning and attacking him. He wanted nothing more than to separate those two for both of their sakes. If Honey hurt Haruhi, it'd kill him on the inside. If Honey hurt Haruhi, it'd likely put her in the hospital or kill her in the literal sense. Kyoya shook his head at them all, the universal sign of 'don't do it'. Did he WANT the girl to get seriously hurt?!

"I could have hurt you." Honey stated after maybe ten minutes of everyone just standing there, still not putting his leg down. It felt like time had actually stopped, and if he moved an inch, time would start moving and the kick would continue and slam into her thin body.

"Yep." Haruhi shrugged. "I know you're strong. I know you're cranky. Do you wanna know what else I know?" Haruhi grabbed onto him softly, fixing his position so he was standing like a normal person.

"What?"

"I know you're different. I know you're a Haninozuka by strength, but you take after your aunt more than that Billy Goat. Look her up. You'd be surprised." She whispered that in his ear, kissed him on the cheek, and walked away. "The bell rang five minutes ago, guys. We're going to be late for class." Once she was out the door, time went back to normal. The males in the room unfroze, looked at each other in confusion as if to ask if that really happened, and went back to class.

"Mitsukuini." Mori called after nearly twenty minutes of standing with him in the long-deserted room.

"Let's… go home…" Honey whispered, still in a daze with his mind elsewhere.

Mori nodded, calling for a car and sitting silently with his cousin for the entire ride. Honey just stared out the window. The second the car stopped, he exited and burst right into his father's personal training hall.

"When the hell were you going to tell me that you had a sister?!" He snapped at his father, speaking out of turn for the first time in his life and not caring at the moment.

Yorihisa glared down at his son, holding up a hand to stop the onslaught of throwing knives that he was dodging or deflecting. "I was not aware I was expected to answer to my son." He stated pointedly. He glared harder when the chibi-fighter didn't back down in the slightest. "It is none of your concern."

"To hell it's not!" Honey snapped back, livid.

"What happened at school today, Takashi?" Akira, Mori's father, asked in a whisper. "How did the young lord learn of his father's sister?"

"Haruhi must have told him." Mori stated. "Mitsukini lost control of his temper and a friend of ours, Haruhi Fujioka, stopped him. He nearly hurt her but he stopped just before striking her. She knew about his grandfather, about his temper and the fact that only bodyguards and masters go anywhere near him because of his strength."

"How would the girl know such things?" Akira asked, baffled. "Sure, none of you speak of such things so openly at school."

"Who is this Haruhi girl?" Yorihisa commanded, having heard what the two Morinozukas had said.

"You'd known if you would have taken care of your sister!" Honey snapped.

"Father, what was her name?" Mori questioned, no longer even trying to be quiet because the hyper-vigilant lord would hear them either way.

"Takashi, you must understand. She and the lord were very different. From birth, she seemed to shy away from any sort of violence. She wasn't just unhappy here, she was fearful of both her father and brother."

"Not surprising. Compassion isn't in his nature." Honey spat, walking away.

"Young lord – the file you requested." A regent stated at the door, kneeling and offering it in the same way a knight would offer a king a sword.

Honey took a breath, his temper about to snap again. Here, though, it was far harder to control because his home _could easily_ take his wrath. He didn't snap, though. That's take time and he wanted to return to Haruhi's side. It felt like something bad would happen if he didn't get to her. It felt like she was lonely or maybe even in danger, alone somewhere and without protection just as her mother had been before she died.

"Give it to _him._ " Honey seethed before walking away, not even calling the man his father. He was disgusted. Even if she'd been scared into leaving or something, how could he have not assigned her bodyguards? She'd been alive if he'd done that, most likely. Haruhi would have grown up with a mother.

"Takashi." Akira called his son carefully while their lord was being offered the file. "Perhaps it's best that the Young Lord be left alone for a while."

"No." Mori stated. "And I'm angry about this as well, Father." He looked his father in the eye. Sure enough, there was anger boiling under the surface. "Mokoto. That's her name, isn't it, Father?"

Akira winced slightly. Her name hadn't been spoken for nearly twenty years. "Yes, my son."

Mori wanted to explode. He wanted to yell at his father as his cousin had done his. He kept calm, though. "I've got a princess to protect." He looked his father in the eye. "With or without the help of the main family."

He walked away. His arms were trembling in rage, prompting all of the staff to dive away from him or lower their heads in submission as he passed. He didn't care, though. He got onto a motorcycle, taking a deep breath to calm his trembling hands enough to work the hand-controls of the vehicle.

It suddenly made sense why Mori had always been drawn to her when she asked for or even hinted at needing help. Women born into the Haninozuka Family were called either queens or princesses. Her mother, if she'd been an only child which would make her the heir, would have been a queen. Instead, both she and Haruhi were princesses… and both were denied their birthrights for a reason that Mori doubted he'd ever understand.

Mori killed the engine when he found himself, at the entrance gate to her apartment complex. By then, he'd caught up with Honey, who nearly crashed through the gates in his insane-anger. No – rage. This wasn't anger. It was like calling a tsunami just a swell of water. It was still a wave, but the small word no longer fit the context.

"Did you really have to hand over a full background-check to your father?" Haruhi called from up a tree as the pair walked into the yard. "He lost all right to know the truth when he and his father abandoned my mother."

Honey didn't really climb up the tree. He was just suddenly… next to her. To an onlooker, it'd probably looked like the blond could teleport. Carefully, wary of his body still trembling with rage, he leaned against Haruhi before hugging her carefully. "I'm sorry. I didn't think about that."

"People don't really think at all when they're angry." Haruhi sighed. She wound her arms around him, patting his head softly. "It's alright. What's done is done. Did you read it?"

Honey shook his head. "I wanted to get to you. It felt like something bad would happen if I didn't get to you."

A man huffed from slightly higher in the branches, crossing his arms over his chest. "Nothing would have happened if you'd stayed home, ya runt. I'm more than enough to protect her. Don't underestimate the Black Clan. We don't abandon one of our own."

Mori was suddenly up there as well, wary of the member of an enemy clan. The Black Clan and the two zuka-families had been at war for as long as history has been recorded for the three families. Every once in a while, even now, things get out of hand. It was in their blood to fight. "What would the Black Clan have to do with Haruhi?" He questioned stiffly.

"We protect her – deal with it." The man spat.

"You don't need to protect her anymore." Mori bit out.

"You don't decide that." The man spat with venom as if Mori was unworthy of his time.

The two glared heatedly at each other, their eyes vowing futures of torture and death for the other.

"Let's time them – their glaring contest will probably break a world record." Haruhi smirked as she sat down, leaning back with Honey in her lap. "Nao-chan, stop hiding. Honey doesn't bite unless you look like a cake."

The little girl that carefully came down to join their group (having been high up in the tree) was nearly completely a mini-Haruhi. She looked around 10 years old. She looked reluctant, as if she thought Haruhi had lied and Honey would eat her or something. Her eyes were different from Haruhi's. Haruhi's were brown like chocolate. Hers were the Haninozuka-eyes.

"It's alright." Haruhi called, carefully grabbing the younger girl and leading her to sit closer. "Honey, this is my younger sister, Naomi."

Honey knew better than to be his usual cheerful self. The girl was scared of her. He felt like, if he waved, it'd be just enough movement to make the scared little rabbit run away from him. "So that means I've got two cousins." Honey nodded. "Can I call you Nao-chan, too?" He'd never asked to use a shortened name before. It felt sort of odd to ask.

Naomi was wary. Though it was closer to the new person, she went to her sister's side, sitting slightly behind her and ducking behind her shoulder. "If-f you want to…" She stammered out.

 **Naomi doesn't stay scared of Honey for long, I promise. So, how did I do? Review!**


	2. The chase

**The chase**

Haruhi was already long-exposed as a girl. All that drama of their last party trying to keep Tamaki in Japan, not to mention her in a dress making her look a little too girly than the students figured possible, exposed her. Not much changed, though. The girls saw her as an idol, being a tomboy when they've been raised on the pretense that all women should be prim and proper, never outspoken in the slightest as they were all meant to be wives. The guys started paying attention to her, too, because she wasn't like the other girls.

The 'reverse harem' thing was actually just a sort of joke. It was something the girls at her table came up with and, because it got a good laugh out of Haruhi, they decided that it was one, just with guy friends rather than anything sexual. Others, however, too it a step higher.

Three goons walked up, guys from the D-class which was mostly the yakuza kids who managed to have enough reputation and money to get into the academy. They were grinning happily, stating that she was a whore who spread her legs for the host club and offering her money for the 'services' that apparently pleased six different guys.

"Um… ew…" Haruhi stated as her answer. She glanced over to a group of D-class girls who were whispering to themselves. "Do they talk like that to the girls in your class or am I just special?"

"Well, um… they're kinda…"

"We're with the Black Clan, Fujioka. We take what we want." The leader of the three goons grinned happily.

"Ah, lovely. I'll be sure to inform a teacher that the D-class needs to have a lesson on sexual harassment." Haruhi chirped, walking away.

"Maybe she's never heard about the Black Clan." The leader purred. He grabbed Haruhi by the hair and pulled her back into his arms, a difficult task because it wasn't nearly as long as the hair he was used to pulling. "I can change that, Fujioka." He whispered into her ear as he fingered her belt-line and dipped his fingers past her belt. "You'll like this lesson way more than whatever class you have n-"

"Actually, I happen to enjoy my chemistry class." Haruhi stated. She turned slightly and slammed her elbow back, hitting just above his hip. As he was about to go down, she grabbed him and flipped him over her body. "And I do know about the Black Clan. I just don't bow down and kiss ass. I wouldn't go to the nurse's office, by the way. They may check the cameras. It'll be annoying if the Host Club were to find out about this."

"P-Please no…" A girl whispered brokenly. "P-Please…"

Haruhi turned, stiffened, and then sighed, holding her hands out. "Leave her out of this." She felt herself being grabbed, the two hands on each of her arms meaning that at least two people grabbed her. They pinned her arms behind her back in a way that Haruhi knew that, if she moved wrong, her shoulders would dislocate. "Now let her go. She won't say anything."

"Feisty." The one she'd hit purred as he stood up. "Let the whiner go, Guchi. We're gonna have some fun with our new friend here." He stumbled slightly for a couple paces but then walked normally until he was standing in front of Haruhi. "I was going to pay your for your services, you know. Now, we're going to screw you so hard those pansies in the Host Club won't even want to touch you. I do hope you're on birth control."

"If we let her go now, she could get one of Fujioka's boyfriends." The guy that held the terrified freshman stated. "I don't wanna get interrupted, boss. Besides, she's a screamer. I like screamers."

"N-No-No… p-please let me go…" The freshman sobbed, trying to wiggle free.

"What, you actually get a scream from anyone with your toddler-dick?" Haruhi muttered.

It had the desired effect. The guy let the freshman girl go and stalked closer to Haruhi with a furious look on his face.

"Want to warm her up for me, Guchi?" Their leader asked. "She hit me pretty hard and now she's insulted your manhood. Get payback for us both."

"First thing's first." The jackass, Guchi, grinned. He punched Haruhi in the shoulder, the pop resonating down the hall and making the other two guys go slightly green. "Something to distract her from the pain of me ripping her insides to shreds with my _toddler-dick_."

Haruhi was released and collapsed to the ground, in so much pain that she was sick to her stomach. She bit back a scream and only let out a groan as she looked up and glared. "It suddenly makes sense why you've gotta do this to get sex. No girl wants to touch scum like you, huh?" She muttered.

She didn't really realize she had been hit until she was on the ground, lying on her dislocated shoulder and coughing, suddenly twice as sick. She continued to gasp and cough, keeping her eyes half closed even after she'd regained her senses. They were still laughing. They stopped abruptly, though, as they realized Haruhi had taken off running.

Kasanoda burst into the judo hall, falling flat on his face and then scrambling back onto his feet. "Yasuchika-san!" He shouted, interrupting the fight between the captain and one of the lieutenants.

Chika glared before getting out of the ring. "What is it?"

"D-D-D class guys are chasing Fujioka around the school." Kasanoda panted, sweating buckets. "S-She's a friend of your brother's, and Mori-sempai's. Believe me – these guys don't have PG things in mind."

About half of the guys had already bolted. Chika wasn't sure if it was because they thought Honey and Mori would like them if they'd saved their friend or if they read between the lines and wanted to save the girl from being raped. Chika didn't care because he knew one thing about the girl that they didn't yet, that no one but her and his family knew. She was his cousin. His blood cousin.


	3. Waking up

**Yep, been forever sense I last published anything. Not even going to make an excuse this time. Life comes first. But I'm back now so here you go.**

 **Waking up**

Haruhi woke up, bolting awake and then biting back a scream as her shoulder painfully greeted her. She hunched over with the joint in the center, the rest of her body's pain nothing in comparison. She'd heard that dislocations were worse than breaking bones and now she could honestly say that it was a thousand-percent true.

"Miss Fujioka? Miss Fujioka, can you hear me?"

A doctor. Damn, she hated doctors. And a doctor meant she was at a hospital, something she hated even more than brainless doctors.

"Yeah, I can hear you." Haruhi breathed, carefully straightening slightly and pulling a knee up so it didn't look as obvious that she was hunched over still.

"Good. Now, do you remember what happened?" The doctor asked. "What's the last thing you remember?"

This man had obviously never treated someone with some trauma, either that or he wasn't very good at it. She just woke up and she automatically had to recount something that would traumatize a normal person? The man hadn't even told her who he was, where she was, or who brought her here. Hell, he hadn't even informed her that she was safe. Weren't people always supposed to tell a victim that?

"Walking to class. Can I go now?" Haruhi bit out.

"Excuse me, sir." A large man stated as he walked in. "I'm terribly sorry, but I've been appointed as Miss Fujioka's doctor. I am employed by her uncle's family. Please step outside with my aid." He then scowled as the doctor left without complaint. "Really?" He muttered once the door was closed. "No requesting confirmation? Really?"

"Why do you think I don't like hospitals?" Haruhi muttered. "Of course, that's good news for you, considering I don't have any uncles."

"Hmm? Oh, secret. Not to worry, dear. We're keeping this as quiet as possible. My name is Kenta Okazaki. I'm employed by the Haninozuka Clan's main branch."

"So a doctor that knows what he's doing." Haruhi muttered. Then she smirked. "Hopefully. Do you mind if I call you Kenta? Your last name kinda reminds me of the genetics test I took last month."

Kenta laughed, nodding. "Very well, if I may call you Haruhi."

Haruhi went to shrug but then grunted as her shoulder protested angrily.

"Yes, I suppose I don't need to inform you that you're suffering from a shoulder dislocation." Kenta mused as he stood by her side. "Just try to relax, alright? I've got you. Just lean back. Nice and slow."

Haruhi wanted to say something along the lines of 'I'm not a baby' or something like that, but she wasn't sure if it'd sound too pathetic coming from her if she said it right then. She was also reluctant to open her mouth because this was the sort of pain that'd make you not want to eat anything for the rest of the day and, surely, hurling wouldn't help her heal at all.

"Now why the hell didn't that stupid doctor have you on pain medication?" Kenta scowled as he grabbed her chart and started to look through it.

"And people wonder why I hate hospitals." Haruhi smirked, though she still sounded like shit and her voice told him exactly how much pain she was in. "Hay, can I just pop a few naproxen? Me and narcotics don't see eye to eye."

"It'd take quite a few naproxen to take care of your pain, dear." Kenta answered with a chuckle. "Allergies?"

"Nah. I just get high really easily."

Kenta rolled his eyes. "You don't get high unless you have too much, dear."

"Nah, I was still in pain and they said I needed more, but I was such a pain in the ass that they just sedated me." Haruhi chirped.

"Well, you are from a family that tend to be rather unruly patients. When was this, by the way? What happened?"

"During the tsunami." Haruhi shrugged, this time making it only a one-shouldered shrug. "I went for a swim and kinda got squashed between two hard places. You can't really do anything for broken ribs, though. I've had narcos a few other times before then. I've broken just about everything at least once. Everyone thinks I'm gonna be a baby about a little pain so they dope me up and then have to deal with a hyper Tunnel Rat."

"I think I'd still prefer a hyper princess to one in pain."

"Oh, you say that now. Just wait until I'm bouncing off the walls and you have to call that Albino Billy Goat to sit on – oh, speak of the devil." Haruhi cleared her throat, trying not to laugh at the man's pout. "Which part don't you like, the albino or the Billy Goat?"

"Which part was supposed to be more insulting?" The man muttered as he walked into the room.

"I donno. You can always dye your hair but I swear that Billy Goat look is in the DNA." Haruhi chirped.

"Well, if he is albino, then what are your cousins?" Akira chuckled as he also walked in, standing at her side opposite from the doctor with Yorihisa who was busy scowling.

"Albino, but at least they look like they get out of the mansion more than five times a year." Haruhi chirped. Then she grinned wider. "Ah, you can't glare at that. I counted."

"What, is there some sort of record of my every movement?" Yorihisa muttered. Though, he couldn't deny that she was probably correct.

"Actually, yes. It's called the media." Haruhi answered honestly. "Ah, and you can blame the 'Billy Goat' on your sister. Mom taught me to read with articles about your temper rivaling your father's. Did you really start growing that out when you were still in high school?"

"Did she ever read you any articles about me?" Akira asked curiously.

"Nope. Your side of the family didn't get any drama until after she died." Haruhi chirped. "Of course, you already know about that and my little disappearing act, don't you?"

"Are you going to tell us where you disappeared to?" Akira asked.

"Not a chance in hell." Haruhi answered automatically.

"How about where the child is?" Yorihisa asked.

"Even less of a chance in hell." Haruhi stated even quicker, as if it was a knee-jerk reaction.

"So you know where she is." Yorihisa stated.

"Guess you'll never know." Haruhi shrugged.

"No matter who her father is, she's still my niece." Yorihisa stated.

"Yes, and you have such a nice track-record for taking care of one of your own, don't you?" Haruhi retorted.

Yorihisa and Akira both winced and looked down in shame. The subject was dropped. Honestly, the next subject was brought up when an IV bag was offered but Haruhi opted to take oral medication.

"I prefer a horse-pill to a needle with who-knows-what going straight to my brain." Haruhi stated. "It's easier to assume that people don't know their ass from a hole in the wall. Safer than blind trust."

"I'm sure my aid double-checked the IV, dear. He's rather OCD with medications." Kenta stated. "In any case, those should kick in around 5:30."

"Actually, with my metabolism, I'd say ten minutes." Haruhi chirped. "Not my first run-in with this stuff. Same brand and everything."

"When?" Kenta asked. She had absolutely nothing in her medical records, but he'd seen her x-ray which proved her story of a rough life. Either she used a different name or all of these drug-necessary injuries were taken care of underground.

"Broken tibia. It looks really cool on the x-ray, too. I've got freaky bones and managed to pull off a greenstick-fracture before it broke completely so the scar looks like the number-7."

Akira looked like he was about to have a panic attack. "How in the world did you get two fractures consecutively?"

"No-holds tunnel-rat-tag." Haruhi smirked. "Ah, speaking of tag." She glanced over to the air vent. "Chika-chan, do you wanna play?"

"You've gotta be kidding me." Chika muttered from the air vent, opening it up to speak properly. "How long have you known I was up here?"

"You perched yourself up there about two minutes after Kenta showed up and then tossed a bug which landed… there." Haruhi didn't look behind her. She used the reflection off a mirror in her wallet.

All of the males in the room suddenly looked comical with their eyes bugging out of their heads, just staring at her.

"What? With my shoulder this annoying, I'm even more of an easy target. You do know three of the guys chasing me around were yakuza brats, right?" Haruhi huffed.

"There is 'hyper-vigilant' and there is 'shouldn't be human'." Chika stated. "I doubt even Brother wouldn't have seen me throw that bug. What, were you naturally looking for people hiding in the vent?"

"Actually, I was looking for my sensei who happens to be…" She paused, glancing at the other air vent through her mirror. "Now where the hell did you-" She stopped again when a man walked through the door. "Speak of the devil. You know, I could really use some female guests in here."

"A teacher in what, exactly?" Chika questioned. "He's not a teacher at Ouran."

The man ignored him, walking up to Haruhi. "Naomi hasn't been told that you're hurt yet, but I doubt that is something that you can grin your way out of and still pretend she's your baby monkey."

"Yeah, well, I won't be swimming for a while because of it, so I'll be spending more time with her. Kinda pointless to have a scout in the water when she's down an arm." Haruhi stated. She yawned softly and then scowled. "Ah crap, there's the narocos."

"It's been a while sense I've seen Fireball Fujioka." The man smirked.

"Oh shut up."

"One hell of a way to talk to your sensei." Chika chimed in.

"Past student." The man stated. "And, by Tunnel Rat Law, my goddaughter." Carefully, he tucked the girl in, wary of her shoulder. "I'll be sure to drop the message that there's a bit too much testosterone in the room."

Haruhi yawned again. "The Billy Goat counts as two."


	4. Scars

**Scars**

Normally, it would be a female bodyguard or something to help Haruhi in the shower. However, sense the two queens of the families had passed away five years before, there were no women in the main household and they had no need for female bodyguards. If Haruhi was just a friend as she'd been just two months before, then perhaps a woman would have been hired from the hospital to come and help her. However, now that they knew who exactly she was… they were far too paranoid to trust someone that they hadn't been training and observing for a lifetime.

When Mori walked into the room, Haruhi was already undressed and under the spray of the shower, doing everything on her own. It was obvious that she was in pain. She was alone so she wasn't wasting her energy on pretending she didn't feel pain. And because she was alone, his calling her name startled her no matter how quiet it had been.

"You're safe here, Haruhi." He told her for maybe the thousandth time sense she'd started to stay with them that morning. Because her condition wouldn't get any worse if they sent her home, they did so even though they knew that her father worked long hours and wouldn't be able to take care of her. When they asked Ranka if he would mind if they kept her at their mansion while she healed, though, Ranka's only concern was weather or no Haruhi would be alright in a house surrounded by men, apparently having been told after all that the boys who hurt her intended to rape her.

 _"I hardly count as enough to scare her, you see." Ranka pointed out. "I'm her father."_

 _"I'm her uncle." Yorihisa countered._

 _Ranka paused before sighing. "So you know about that. I'm sorry about your sister."_

 _Yorihisa nodded. "I failed to protect her. I intend to at least compensate for that failure by protecting her child." Then he sighed. "You lost Haruhi for three years. Do you know where she was?"_

 _"When her mother was raped, she got pregnant. I couldn't afford two children on my income and I didn't want her to be raised in a situation that everyone looked down on her. I don't know how she did it, but I know that Haruhi found her sister in that time and has been raising her behind my back. Haruhi probably thinks my reasons for giving her sister up were… different."_

 _"So I have two nieces. Haruhi has just been raising her sister in secret."_

 _"Yes. Hopefully, you don't make the same mistake I did."_

Haruhi did everything on her own. She basically took over the role as 'woman of the house' when her mother passed away. She cooked, cleaned, and took care of raising herself while her father worked long hours to support their lifestyle. At the same time, she managed to keep up with her studies, a feat that normally took up every waking moment of a girl's time considering her perfect grades. However, she had something else she did on her own – raise her sister, Naomi, who her father put into an orphanage.

"Let me help you." He called as he walked further into the room. So she'd stop using both of her arms to try to cover herself, he carefully wrapped a towel around her thin body to protect her modesty. "You're my cousin, Haruhi. It's alright."

Haruhi's face was so red that it was nearly glowing. Her entire body was red, honestly. "It-It's really alright. I'm sure you have better things to do. I'm fine on my own."

Carefully, he reached out and put a hand on her head before pulling her slightly to lean against him. "I want to help you. It doesn't seem fair that I've been serving your cousins all their lives yet I've only been your friend for a little over a year."

"I'm getting you wet…" Haruhi complained.

"I'll change later. Don't worry about it." He told her. Careful of moving too quickly, he grabbed onto a bottle of shampoo. "May I?"

He'd helped Honey bathe several times before, even a few times because he was injured while training. This, however, was still very different. Though he'd always been drawn to the girl, he'd never helped her in such a way. He'd never seen her body so exposed before and he'd never before seen her injured, much less had to handle her injured body. Now, she was in his arms. It was his responsibility to care for her.

He had the honor of being the first Morinozuka to serve her, a huge deal because, by birthright, she should have been taken care of the second she was born. Normally, it'd be his father's responsibility to correct the wrong. However, he was given the honor because he was closer to her, more likely to be trusted.

Once the shower was over, he brought her out of the area and carefully dried her, very aware that she was getting chilled rather quickly. He helped her dress, though she put her own bottom-clothes on along with slipping on a bra while he wasn't looking.

"I'm broken, not useless." Haruhi pointed out when Mori stated that he was supposed to be helping her.

"Just because you're not useless doesn't mean you need to go out of your way to move your injured shoulder." Mori pointed out. Carefully, he slipped her into s sun-dress with such a low slit in the back that she barely had to move her shoulder to slip the arms in.

Mori stopped his task of buttoning the dress, though, distracted by a mark on her back. It was just barely sticking out from the back-strap of her bra. It was a deep indent, a scar that looked years old. He'd seen scars like that on fighters and knew the nature of the wound. That was more than enough to make him worry. However, the age of the scar scared the hell out of him. It looked more than three years old.

Haruhi was barely 16 years old.

"Haruhi." He called. Carefully, he placed a hand on her back. He concentrated on his voice, not wanting to scare her by sounding angry when she was in such a vulnerable position. "What is this?"

"Hmm?" Haruhi hummed. "Probably a scar. Sorry, I tried to cover it."

Mori swore those words killed him. That's why she caused herself pain and put her bra on without his help. Mori calmed himself, worried that she could sense his anger as Honey could. "What happened?"

"Don't remember it, really. I was in the car when Mom and I were ran off the bridge, but I wasn't wearing a seatbelt so I went flying." Haruhi told him. "It used to be here." She reached back, tapping her shoulder blade about an inch away from her spine. "Scars move as you grow, but the bone-scars don't."

"Doctor Okazaki said that your x-ray could tell a story to fill a library." Mori muttered.

"Yep." Haruhi chirped.

Mori felt like he was being tortured. She'd not only been denied her birthright all these years, but she'd needed the protection. If she'd been protected as she should have been as the Haninozuka Princess, then none of this would have happened. Her mother wouldn't have been killed. Haruhi would have never been harmed in any way. Haruhi would be a normal girl with a mother and a normal life.

"Mori?" Haruhi called, worried as he started to shake. "You cold?" She sighed, slightly grabbing at his shirt to pull it away from his skin. "I told you that you were going to get wet."

Mori sighed, realizing that he was trembling with rage that his cousin had been harmed when she should have been protected. He was suddenly overjoyed, though, that she had thought the shaking was with cold rather than anger. She couldn't see him angry. She was too vulnerable and would fear him, returning to trying to do everything herself.

"I'll be dry soon." He told her. He finished buttoning her dress up. Carefully, he put her back on her feet and surrendered her to his father so he could excuse himself to change. Once he was in his room, he slammed his fist into the wall, putting a hole through it.

"Takashi." Honey called, apparently having been in his room. "Is it something she asked you not to talk about?"

Mori took a deep breath before removing his hand from the hole. "She put on her bra without my help, trying to make it so I wouldn't see a scar on her back." He stated as he started to change. "She didn't seem to mind talking about it at all. Such things are… normal." He suddenly hated the 6-leter word with a burning passion.

Akira sighed, walking into his son's room. "She's with Yasuchika and Satoshi." He eyed the hole in the wall before glancing back to his son and nephew. "We can't do anything about the past, Takashi. And control your anger better. You lucked out by her thinking you were cold."

Mori nodded, by that point dry and dressed for the day. "It won't happen again, Father."

"Oh, I doubt that." Akira stated. "You've never felt the pull because you were too young when the lord's bride was still with us. Your pull to take care of Mitsukuni and Yasuchika will be nothing compared to the pull to take care of Haruhi. She is a girl. Girls are meant to be cared for."

"Yet her mother wasn't on your watch." Mori bit out.

"No, she wasn't." Akira agreed.

"Notify her doctor that she has a scar on the bra-line of her back, half an inch from her spine on the left side." Mori stated.

Akira nodded. "Did it seem to be a sensitive subject for her?"

"No. She doesn't remember it clearly. It was from when her mother was murdered."

"Meaning she was likely present."

"Meaning she was present."

Akira nodded and left.

Honey sighed, grabbing onto Mori's hand. "We'll protect her from now on, Takashi." He told him. They left the room and joined the family at the breakfast table. As usual, of course, the Haninozuka family members fought upon greeting.

Haruhi glanced over to Akira while Honey and his father 'greeted' each other. "Will I still be exempt from that tradition when I'm healed?"

"Yes. Women don't fight." Yorihisa answered instead as he and Honey joined and the food started to be served.

"So why was my mother's childhood a living hell?" Haruhi asked. She then glanced down upon realizing that it was a little too soon to bring that up. "Sorry."

"No." Yorihisa stated. "That is why she hated it here. Our father was rather determined to make her strong considering she was the first female born to the family in several generations. I was to train her because my father was far too strong. She grew to associate my presence with pain and fear, hating me and our lifestyle. So she left."

"Kinda what happens when you train someone who doesn't want to learn." Haruhi mumbled. She sighed, jabbing a sausage with her fork. "It's usually only seen with yakuza kids, though."

"What, being forced to train?"

"No – being forced to become a monster." Haruhi stated. She looked the lord in the eye. "Looks like you caught it before it was too late."

"I don't see how." Yorihisa muttered. "My sister is dead."

"You can venture outside the mansion and tolerate being around people that don't automatically bend over backwards to kiss your feet." Haruhi stated bluntly. "I can make a rather long list of people who can't do that and one happens to be-" She stopped. "He's standing right behind me, isn't he?" She glanced around, seeing the servants around them bowing their heads submissively and all of the Morinozukas around the table keeping their eyes down as well.


	5. Benjaru Haninozuka

**Benjaru Haninozuka**

"Do you have something to say, little bastard child?" An elderly man with the Billy-goat hair but in the white variety was standing right behind Haruhi, towering over her with death-threats radiating out of his eyes.

"No." Haruhi stated, turning to look at the man. "I was merely stating an observation. I'm sorry if that offended you." She grunted slightly as her shoulder was pat and then gripped in an iron vice-like grip. She then realized that she was flying through the air. She put her uninjured hand on the ground to spring herself into a skidding-landing on her feet. "It's nice to meet you too, Grandfather."

"So you believe me a monster, bastard child? What did your disgraceful mother tell you about me, huh?"

"Nothing, considering she was dead by the time I was old enough to start school." Haruhi stated. "It was interesting that, three years later, it wasn't her father to get revenge on the man who murdered his child." She side-stepped the charge, evading it. "So how exactly is my mother dishonorable to a man who doesn't even get revenge for his fallen daughter?"

"SHUT UP!"

Haruhi side-stepped again, jumping a little further away after kicking his feet out from under him.

"I believe I just won." Haruhi stated, walking away.

"I'm not done with you, you little shit." The elderly man snapped as he stalked over to her, looking like a zombie with the crazed look in his eye.

"Father, you have lost." Yorihisa stated as he sat Haruhi in her chair and offered his father one next to him. "Now please come eat. Haruhi is injured, and female, so please refrain from striking her again."

"Obviously, the little shit can take care of herself." The elderly man huffed before sitting down. He stabbed his foot roughly. "So how was it you got wounded? Obviously, you're not as weak as your mother who hid from any sort of training."

Haruhi took a drink from her glass before answering. "Apparently, being in a club with six boys made them believe I was a whore. When I refused and got away, they grabbed a freshman girl. Obviously, I'm very different from the girls who have been raised with bodyguards watching over them. The fight that followed got my shoulder dislocated and the chase resulted in any other injuries. Somewhere along the lines, as they called in reinforcements because the four of them couldn't catch me, they happened to call a friend of mine."

"So you still required assistance." The man pointed out. "Weak."

"I never claimed to be strong." Haruhi stated, not offended in the slightest. "And compared to everyone in my direct family, I am the weakest link. But, I was strong enough to help that girl." She looked the man in the eye, her eyes unwavering. "And I was strong enough to have a hand in avenging your daughter."

"So you didn't do it yourself."

"No, I wasn't alone." Haruhi stated.

"And the rape-child?"

"My father put her in an orphanage."

"So you don't know where your sisters is?"

"I never said that." Haruhi glanced down to her food, taking a bite of egg. Haruhi caught a throwing-knife just an inch from going past her head. "Was there something else you'd like to know, Grandfather?" She asked politely.

"I want to know the location of the rape-child." The elderly man big out.

"She's with the people that helped me kill the man that murdered your daughter. Until she says that she wants to meet her grandfather or uncles, she'll never get anywhere any of you. I prefer to limit the amount of people that might scare her."

"So she's a weakling like your mother."

Haruhi nearly snapped her fork in half. "I suppose it's becoming a family tradition to make the younger sister feel unwanted. However, unlike my uncle, I have the balls to go against my father's wishes and make sure my sister feels loved and cared for. I intend to continue to that."

"So she can grow up to be a weak woman and get raped like her mother?"

"No. I intend to keep her safe. That includes keeping her far away from the ex-lord who has yet to refer to her as anything but 'rape-child' as if you plan on punishing her for her father's actions."

"Now why would I do that if you've already killed the man?"

"Obviously, my mother left this house for a reason."

Eventually, breakfast ended. Haruhi was seen by the doctor who had to maneuver the joint to make sure that it hadn't been dislocated. He also ordered an x-ray because the bruises from where her shoulder was grabbed were so dark after such a short time. They came back to show cracks on her scapula.

"I see it was stupid to believe my father would respect my wish for you to remain unharmed." Yorihisa stated calmly. It was the sort of 'calm' voice that made everyone want to run for the hills, though. His sons were far more obvious with their anger, pacing like wild animals in the room and refusing to leave.

"No surprise to me." Haruhi chirped, sitting there in the bed as if nothing had happened. "It's certainly not my first time having a nice chat with someone who puts strength above his own family. I'm assuming it has something to do with the fact that Mom never mentioned having a mother in her journals."

"Before, possibly that would have been an excuse." Yorihisa muttered. "My mother passed away in an attack when Mokoto was months old. Father crumbled and became hard, obsessed with making his children strong enough to protect themselves. Now – no. His behavior was inexcusable."

"Most fighters rely on their wives to remain human. Lose that and you've got yourself a very dangerous monster. His purpose in life is now keeping the family strong, but he's probably forgotten why exactly he wanted that." Haruhi stated. She sighed, bringing up a knee and leaning against it. "So he does love his family. He just doesn't know how to show it anymore."

"Don't make excuses for him!" Yorihisa huffed.

"It's not an excuse. It's a reason." Haruhi stated. "And whether you like the way he is or not, he's still your father."

Benjaru Haninozuka stood outside the window of the room, having disabled the cameras knowing the security teams would be completely paranoid about letting him anywhere near the girl. He stood there with wide eyes, remembering his wife saying the exact same thing. She'd been sold to him, basically. He'd refused the offer but then she appeared in his dining room, his parents having overruled his wishes.

 _"My mother died soon after childbirth. I guess that's why my father wanted me to wed you. It's your family tradition to always take care of your women."_

 _"My family is of fighters. Is your father insane? I could snap you like a twig!" He complained._

 _"I never said my father thought everything through. He kind of snapped, apparently, when my mother passed away. But he's still my father. I'll respect his wishes… if you'll have me."_

Respecting parents even knowing they've lost their minds? And how dare she insinuate that he'd lost his mind? His wife's passing didn't change him! He'd always wanted the family to remain strong!

"Even so, it was his own law that injured family members be cared for." Honey stated.

Actually, it was his wife's wish. He just made it law in the household.

"Yeah, well, maybe he didn't care." Haruhi shrugged.

"So where is your sister, anyway?" Chika asked.

"Isn't she with the Black Clan?" Honey asked.

"WHAT?" Yorihisa nearly screamed. "Oh no. No-no-no." He ranted. "I am NOT entrusting my niece's safety to-"

"The clan that helped me avenge your sister?" Haruhi chimed in.

"No. Not even with that said. I don't want your or your sister anywhere NEAR those back-stabbing… _animals!_ " He couldn't even come up with a good insult. "The Black Clan is not to be trusted with your back turned."

"Funny. They say the same thing about our clan." Haruhi chuckled.

Honey glanced at Haruhi. "You still wanna be a part of the family?" He asked carefully.

"Someone's gotta make sure you and your brother get along." Haruhi smirked. "Anyway-" She pulled Honey onto the bed before he could react. "Nap time. I could use a pillow that doubles as a bodyguard."

"Haruhi, you beat Grandfather in a fight. He's not going to try again anytime soon."

"Sooner or later, he's going to find out that my thing is speed – not strength. And if my shoulder takes much more damage, it's gonna take a bit longer than a few weeks to be able to judo-flip you on your ass again."

"He'll do a lot more than that." Chika sighed.

"Enough of that, Yasuchika. Father wouldn't go that far." Yorihisa scolded.

"I'm not willing to bet my life on it." Haruhi stated. "Because he didn't approve of my father, I'm a bastard child. My sister is even more so. We're kinda living dis-"

"I decide who is a disgrace and who is not!" Yorihisa snapped. He grimaced when he saw Haruhi jump and then wince in pain. He sighed, sitting by her side. "I am the lord of this clan now. It is no longer my father's place to approve or disapprove of anything."

Benjaru scowled outside the room. Now they thought he would murder the children? What sort of monster do they take him for? And his own grandson was the first to suggest it! He stayed in that spot, listening to what they were saying and then listening to Honey and Haruhi chat quietly about school before they went quiet. Honey said one last thing, though, to a sleeping Haruhi.

"I'll protect you next time, Haru-chan. Even if I have to break tradition." He swore. "I won't let him hurt you again?"

Benjaru scowled again. He'd been listening when the doctors told them about the grip cracking Haruhi's shoulder bones. As he thought back, he remembered his daughter. He'd appointed his son to train the girl to defend herself because he knew that he was far too strong to do it. He'd forgotten.

He'd forgotten his strength and likely extended the girl's healing time because of it.


	6. Fire

**Fire**

Haruhi sighed. It was rather annoying to have the judo, kendo, and karate clubs all bending over backwards for her on top of the host club acting like she was on her deathbed. On top of everything, because the fact that the girl she'd saved from getting raped was the princess of a huge yakuza group in the D-class, most of that class were now treating her like their queen.

Even after two weeks, things didn't change. She was back to living at home with her dad because her grandfather was being… creepy. Haruhi wasn't sure what to make of it. He seemed to actually be interested in her recovery, which was scaring the hell out of her uncles and cousins who feared that he was waiting until he could attack her again.

Haruhi sighed again, glancing down at her phone upon feeling the vibration. She was slightly surprised to see it was a call instead of a text, suddenly very glad that she was heading to watch Mori with the kendo club rather than to a class.

"Yo." She answered the phone. "What's up, sensei?" Instantly, she was alert and expecting to get picked up, already walking towards the front entrance of the school. He never called her during school hours. Hell, he barely called her in general.

"Outside in two minutes. Get ready to jump." He sounded like he was ready to head into war.

"Already heading that way." Haruhi stated, keeping an eye out to make sure no one was eavesdropping. "You gonna tell me what's going on?"

"No. Not something to say over the phone. Be there." He hung up.

Haruhi sighed, pocketing her phone. She ran the rest of the way to the front of the school, keeping her fingers crossed that no one noticed enough to alert the guys that she was ditching school. A motorcycle sped through the gates, spun a donut while Haruhi hopped on the back, and then spun off again.

Haruhi never got an answer of what the hell was going on. Within minutes, though, she could see her apartment complex. Fire trucks were all over, even more ambulances. All of the apartments were blazing, fire spewing from the windows. Screams of pain and sorrow filled the entire street. The entire street was on fire, actually, because all of the buildings were so close together.

"S-Sensei…" She called slowly, her eyes glued to the window that belonged to her apartment. "W-Where is my dad?"

"I don't know." The man stated. "But, right now, there are people that do need help. Now. I don't want this place to be another Tunnel-69."

Haruhi nodded. Two years before, the police had flooded a tunnel upon getting a tip about illegal immigrants. The tip was right, of course. The area was full of sweat-shop workers from China shipped to Japan by the yakuza. The Dragon Brigade had saved them. The police used mustard-gas in an attempt to gas them out of the tunnel. Because of the torches they used to light the tunnels, though, the entire network exploded into huge fireball of death.

Haruhi was rushing into the complex long before she even realized that someone had shouted that there were kids still inside. She let her instincts guide her up the stairs and down the hall, only able to hear screaming and crying when she was around five doors down from where the kids were. They were in a kitchen, a little girl armed with the sink-hose and another armed with the fire extinguisher.

"Is anyone hurt?" She called, running through the burning floor fast enough to not catch fire. 0

"Da nany." The girl with the fire extinguisher stated. "She went out da window and da ladder fell down."

"Well, that's ironic." Haruhi muttered, glancing out the window. "Always figured the fire escapes around here would be useless. Are there any more of you?"

"Jus' da babies." The girl with the fire extinguisher chirped, pointing behind her to five screaming babies.

Haruhi nodded. Not counting the babies, there were seven kids who looked just barely old enough to start school, five more who were slightly younger, and another six who were just barely big enough to walk. That meant all seven school-age kids would have to hold a little kid and Haruhi would have her hands full of screaming kid as well. "Alright. We've gotta get outa here. I know it's scary, but you've all gotta be big kids for me, alright? It's not safe here."

And, as if to prove their point, what looked like a bathtub suddenly fell through the ceiling. That made all of the kids want to stop stalling and get out of the building. Instantly, of course, Haruhi felt the pain as she carried two babies, one in each arm, and one of the toddlers on her back.

"Stupid brat. What the hell part of 'Haninozuka Princess' don't you understand?!" A man yelled at her.

"If you think that means my life is more important than a bunch of kids, then you've got some fucked up morals." Haruhi snapped back. "Now shut up and help me. This place is coming down."

Haruhi wasn't sure if she was hallucinating or not. It was so hot and loud with propane tanks exploding in every kitchen at random moments that she already couldn't hear much over the ringing in her own ears. It was getting hard to see through the heat-waves. The kids were all coughing like they were dying, all whining and crying non-stop out of a mix of pain and fear. Haruhi didn't blame them a bit, but it wasn't exactly helping their situation that they were moving so slowly.

Suddenly, Haruhi found herself sitting on the bumper of an ambulance. A paramedic was trying to get a response out of her. Eventually, they gave up and she was handed off to none other than Benjaru Haninozuka so they could take care of someone else.

"Hmm… so I wasn't hallucinating you." She hummed. "To what do I owe the honor of the presence of the big Billy Goat himself?"

"I had a feeling that you may find out about this so I headed over as soon as my assistants informed me of the situation. Apparently, I was right to worry that you'd try to copy your grandmother."

"Relax. I'm not gonna die. I've gotta make sure Honey doesn't end up like you." Haruhi shrugged. She then grunted slightly, her entire body aching but nothing compared to her shoulder. "How are those kids? There should have been 22 counting the babies."

"All fine." Benjaru stated. He sighed, gripping her tighter. She'd completely blacked out on them because of the heat stroke, according to the medics. Her body went on autopilot so it took a while to get her to let go of the two infants she'd been holding. It took even longer to get a response out of her, though. The medics seemed to be using the words 'heat stroke' and 'shock' as if they were the same thing. "All of them are fine. A few burns and cases of heat stroke, but nothing serious."

"Ranka!" Someone shouted. "Ranka, where are you? Ranka!" The person ran up, being a friend of Haruhi's father. "Haruhi, have you seen Ranka?"

Haruhi, who had been so close to passing out, snapped awake and alert. "What? You can't find him?" She managed to jerk out of the grip and run but she was grabbed by the same arms she'd been about to fall asleep in. "Let me go, damn it! Let me go! He might still be in there!"

Benjaru knelt, suddenly very glad that the girl's fighting depended on speed rather than strength. He was stronger than her. She wasn't going anywhere. "I can't do that. If he's still in there, he's dead. If you go in there, you'll die too."

"I DON'T CARE!" She screamed at him, kicking and biting and doing whatever she could to get free.

Benjaru grabbed onto her arm and held it for the person who came with a needle, only realizing later that it was a young girl who had stabbed his granddaughter with a syringe. The little girl then put a finger on the injection site.

"It'll be alright, sissy." The little girl called.

"You're not supposed to be out of the tunnels…" Haruhi whined, only fighting with about half the strength as the sedatives took effect. "My Dad might still be in there, Naomi."

Benjaru sighed, holding the girl tightly. "I'm sorry."

When the apartment complex crumbled to the ground, he turned them so she wasn't facing it. When she tried to turn around in his grasp, he let her turn into his chest but then turned his body again so she still wouldn't see the destruction. By that point, after maybe a minute of crying into his chest, the sedatives had her knocked out.

"You shouldn't look, either. It'll give you nightmares." He told the other girl. Though he'd never met her, he knew that she was Naomi, his other granddaughter and the byproduct of his daughter's rape.

Naomi shook her head. "This is still not as bad as Tunnel-69. I helped with taking care of the clean-up. At least people survived this." She sighed, looking back to her sister. "She'll want to train when she wakes up."

"She can beat on me." Yorihisa stated, standing.

"No!" Naomi argued. "She'll be sad later if she hurts anyone. She forgets that she doesn't like hurting people when she's upset!" She followed him to the car which was down the street, until stopping to talk to someone covered in dirt and ash. "Those kids Haruhi saved. Find them. They're gonna be in Dragon Brigade custody if we can't find their parents."

"Already done." The dirt-covered man stated. "They were all orphans. The woman who took them worked at the orphanage that burned to the ground last week."

Naomi nodded shortly before getting into the car. She sat beside Benjaru who had Haruhi still in his lap. Carefully, she pet her hair as if she was awake and in need of comfort. The ride was silent for the most part after the driver called to inform the mansion that he had the three of them and that medical attention was needed upon their arrival.

"You know, I'm fairly certain that your sister didn't want you anywhere near me." Benjaru informed the little girl.

"I know. But Sis comes first. It's not often that she needs me."

"How'd you know to come?"

"I just knew." The little girl shrugged. "I always know when something is going to really upset her."

"Do you always sedate her?"

"Only when she's trying to run into her grave." She stated. "This time is gonna be worse, though. Sis always hated that she survived the crash when Mom didn't. When someone loses someone important to them, they're not the same person afterwards." She sighed, looking ahead. "Let's hope it was arson. Sis needs someone to blame rather than her own weakness."

"She can blame me. I was the one to stop her from getting in. And after my crimes against your mother, I deserve it."

"No. You just didn't want to see another Haninozuka woman die in a fire."

Benjaru jumped.

"I'm not strong like Sis. She always gets sad when I try to train, anyway. So I've gotta know things. Everything. Especially about the person Sis thinks wants to kill me because of what happened with our mom."

Benjaru grimaced. "If she told you that, then why are you sitting next to the man who might want you dead?"

"Sis comes first." She said again. "That's the way we do things in our family. We take care of our family and our friends no matter what. And now, Sis needs me. She'll be mad when she wakes up, but it's better to seek forgiveness than ask for permission."

Benjaru sighed. Carefully, wary of the fact that the girl may not want to be touched by him, he pat her head and then brought her closer, somewhat hugging her with only his arm and the side of his ribcage. "And the sedatives? Aren't you a bit young to know how to give someone an injection?"

Naomi shook her head. "I've always been taking care of Sis and the other fighters. Sis taught me bandages and stuff and then we started training to be medics. I'm not fast enough to be a scout or strong enough to be a water-scout. Sis would have a conniption fit if I tried to be a sentinel."

"Wouldn't it make your sister happy if you lived a normal happy life?"

"Probably. But I like helping people and sometimes I'm even useful to Sissy." The little girl answered. "And besides, if I wasn't pulling my own weight by now, people would start calling me lazy. I'm a big girl now."

"You're still a child."

She shook her little head. "I'm turning 11 soon. When kids turn 12, they're expected to start pulling their own weight in the tunnels. I've always pulled my own weight, though. People are starting to even respect me."

Benjaru wasn't sure why that made him angry. With his daughter, he'd watched her train to the breaking point at a much younger age and still scolded her for not trying hard enough. Yet this angered him. He sighed, trying to control his anger. When the car stopped, he carefully got out.

He cared. The idea of these girls training didn't sit well with him. The idea of them being self-sufficient in anything but being happy left a bad taste in his mouth. He wasn't sure why and, with all of the commotion after exiting the car, he didn't really have time to contemplate.


	7. Leave her be

**Let her be**

Honey and about half of the karate club (they had followed him and he hadn't cared enough to tell them to go away) showed up at the apartment complex having ran the entire way. They were greeted by an entire city street of burning or already-collapsed homes. News crews were all over, reporting the devastation which was apparently started by a stray yakuza bullet piercing a propane tank in the orphanage next to Haruhi's apartment complex.

"-hour, Haruhi Fujioka, was forcibly restrained and sedated upon attempting to reenter the apartment complex behind me, allegedly to search for her missing father. The high school girl was far from alone in that regard as, even now, people sift through rubble to try to find loved ones." She stepped away to allow the camera to pan over the devastation. "It is much like the trauma left by the earthquake and tsunami, except this nightmare was caused by a single stray bullet from a yakuza dispute. There has been no comment as of yet from the safety inspector in charge of the complex behind me, though he or she likely has some explaining to do to appease the family of the sixteen who died in an attempt to use fire escapes that, instead of delivering them to safety, collapsed and killed all but four who have yet to exit surgery."

One of the members of the Kendo club approached the woman once the camera was off the man's shoulder. "You just said something about Haruhi Fujioka." He stated. "Do you know where she is now?"

"Yes. She and another girl were taken away by the gentleman who restrained her." The camera man stated. "Due to the fact that she is now an orphan, we think the man was affiliated with the Dragon Brigade."

"So you don't know."

"No. If you're that worried, though, get into contact with the Black Clan. They'll be able to find her."

"Would one of you like to give a comment for the news?" The woman asked professionally, looking to the entire club. "You're friends with Miss Fujioka, correct?"

The entire club split up to find her, Honey and Chika returning home to enlist bigger guns. Then they were involved in another search for the same girl. She was at the mansion but had escaped her room.

Every lord of every branch family was there searching because it had become apparent that Haruhi was much stronger than she let on. Naomi was there, too, and they could find her either.

"Honestly, the head house has been all men for several years." The wife of one of the lords told her husband who was rather outspoken about their inability to take care of one upset teenage girl. "You can't blame them for not being able to comfort a girl that's been hurt so badly? You can't even handle it when the twins start to cry, Mr. 'Call a Doctor, They're Broken'."

Another lord fell flat on his ass before stumbling up in the middle of a fit of laughter. "R-Really? Didn't your doctor make you take parenting classes, Uncle? My doctors insisted on it."

"Classes on how to raise a child?" Another lord scoffed. "I'd never allow anyone but my bride question the way I raise my sons."

Honey rolled his eyes and slipped away to find his cousin while the lords bantered about the proper way to take care of a girl. They didn't know the first thing about easing a girl's pain. Their wives might, but none of them were involving their wives because Haruhi was apparently too mentally gone to be trusted not to hurt them.

Honey then stopped, having just been pegged in the head by something. When he looked down, he saw that it was a pinecone. Carefully, wary of scaring someone, he climbed up the tree. There, curled up in the corner of what looked like an old look-out station hidden in the treetops, were his two cousins. Haruhi was covered in her own blood, her hands shredded from punching at the walls which had red fist-prints in random spots.

"They didn't want to let her vent. They just wanted to medicate her like a crazy person." Naomi pouted. She huffed, cleaning Haruhi's face off a little. "They probably didn't call you out of school because they knew you would agree with me and let her vent."

Honey nodded. Injured or not, Haruhi was a fighters and fighters needed to be allowed to grieve in their own ways after such a loss. "I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner." He apologized as he knelt by Haruhi's side and started to bandage her hands. "Grandfather said you were the one to first sedate her. Did you do it again or is this natural?"

"Natural. I only sedated her because she was trying to go after her dad." Naomi told him. "You're not supposed to medicate people too much – their bodies will forget how to do stuff itself. Sis has to learn to deal with this on her own terms."

Honey nodded again. Carefully, he felt the bones in her fingers, hands, wrists, and arms. Nothing was broken as far as he could tell. Warily, he brought his attention to her shoulder. There was no way her rage of sadness didn't aggravate the wound. "How do you think her shoulder is holding up?"

"Dunno. Fighters don't feel pain when they go berserk." Naomi answered. "She may not be done, either. Don't try to stop her when she wakes up. You don't want her to think you're her enemy right now."

"I don't mind taking a beating. I'd rather she hit me than a wall, anyway."

Naomi sighed, shaking her head. "She likes you. I don't want that to change. She's angry now. Later, she'll be sad. She'll need a shoulder to cry on. A shoulder that's older than her. She'll be slightly saner in that phase, so she'll remember that I'm the little sister."

When someone came in the little tree hut, Honey tensed. He was even tenser, though, to see that it was Akira. Akira was his father's companion. He'd go straight to his father and the doctors and have Haruhi medicated to high hell so she'd never get the change to properly grieve her loss.

Suddenly, a hand was holding his. It was a smooth hand smaller than his own, the hand of Naomi. "It's alright. He's on our side."

Akira sighed, taking off his backpack and taking a blanket out of it. "There are no sides, little one." He told her quietly. "Don't be angry with your uncle. He thinks that she'll be better off if she's medicated and calmer. He just wants her to be happy. You can't fault him for that."

"She needs to grieve, not be trapped in her own body…" Honey ground out.

"I know. I went to school studying Chinese herbal medicine, I understand all of this. Your father does not. He believes that his course of action is the best for her. She's the Haninozuka Princess. You can't expect your father to allow her to mourn alone after already losing 16 years of caring for her."

Honey took a breath. He tried to see things from his father's point of view. Letting nature take its course was similar to abandoning her in some degree. "Have you told him where she is?"

Akira looked down in shame. "No. And he's extremely worried that she's alone and hurting. Someday, hopefully, he'll forgive me." He sat down by Haruhi's side, carefully petting her hair with battle-worn hands. He then smiled softly as Naomi decided to crawl into his lap, curl up like a cat, and fall asleep.

"You're not betraying my father by doing what you think is best for our princess, Akira." Honey stated.


	8. End

**Recovering**

Honey was reluctant to let Tamaki anywhere near Haruhi. He and Ranka were very similar and Haruhi was still grieving. Though, apparently, it was a visitor that she'd needed because she dove right for him. Tamaki didn't make any empty promises about everything being alright or anything like that, probably having been told to just shut up and hold her.

"Hay." Tamaki called once Haruhi was done crying. He pulled her chin up so he could look at her. "Your parents are together again. That's good, right?"

Haruhi offered a very small smile and nod before returning to holding onto him. Eventually, he picked her up and carried her over to a reclining chair that fit the both of them.

"Hay, so you saved those kids. Do you remember anything about them?" He asked carefully as he started to rock them in the chair. "You were all over the news for it."

"They're in Dragon Brigade custody, FYI." Naomi chirped. "Turns out they were all orphans already. They were leftovers from when the orphanage down the street from your place burned down."

"When I showed up, they were in the kitchen. One of them had a fire extinguisher and the other had the sink hose." Haruhi mumbled. She curled further into Tamaki as if trying to sink into his skin. "Do you think they're gonna be pyrophoric after that, sis?"

"Dunno. We snagged a few others whose parents didn't get out, too. I think we got 50 total from the entire block. There were no survivors from the sweat-shop, though. The workers were chained to their stations." Naomi stated. "We're coordinating with the Chinese Triad to find their children."

Haruhi smirked widely, suddenly looking like a pleased cat. "Ya think they're gonna try to plant a snake?"

"Most likely." Naomi stated.

"And what does that mean?" Kyoya asked. He'd come with Tamaki to possibly translate any medical terms that were used to describe Haruhi's condition.

"Oh nothing." Both sisters chirped.

Eventually, Haruhi recovered enough to stay 'herself' even without Tamaki there. He did become a constant presence in the Haninozuka Mansion, of course. Haruhi got nightmares a lot, though, and wouldn't tell anyone until someone checked in on her and saw her crying. School made things even worse for a time, though. Everyone seemed to survive off gossip and weren't quiet at all when talking about the fact that Haruhi had saved a bunch of children yet not her father.

Weeks passed. Graduation rolled around. The topic of the fire never died down as everyone who loved Haruhi had hoped it would. Eventually, Haruhi graduated a year early and moved on to college to become a lawyer like her mother. She stayed in the Haninozuka mansion up until Takashi showed up and asked for Yorihisa's permission to marry his niece.

 **This will probably be the end of the story. As you might have noticed, the end of the story was very quickly wrapped up. I started to get serious writer's-block around the middle. I might just rewrite the entire thing or just the last part to make it better. Hope to have more free time to write later.**


End file.
